Post by ivo on Feb 20, 2012 14:20:11 GMT -5
Bulgarian Historic Achievements
7th c. [Political]: Old Great Bulgaria (630/632AD)
7th c. [Political]: First Bulgarian Empire (680/681AD); successor of Old Great Bulgaria
7th c. [Military/Political]: Kan Asparuh decisively defeats Byzantium. For the first and only time in history the East Roman Empire officially recognizes its own land over to a foreign power; legitimizing Asparuh's Bulgaria. On a side note, something similar happened with the Roman Empire when it officially gave Pannonia to the Huns whose main striking forces were Bulgar tribes.
7th c. [Political/Economy]: Byzantium forced to pay tribute to Bulgaria.
8th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: The Byzantine Emperor Justinian II gives Kan Tervel the title of 'Caeser'. For the first time in history a foreign ruler receives this title.
8th c. [Military/Political]: Kan Tervel helps Byzantium against the Arab invaders. Tervel's armies are recorded to have killed 22,000 Arabs in the first attack, other sources state that the number was 30,000. Later Arab chroniclers describe that one Bulgarian soldier was the equivalent of 10 to 15 Arab soldiers.
8th c. [Glory]: Kan Tervel's monumental success against the Arab invaders earned him the unofficial title 'Savior of Europe'.
8th c. [Military]: Battle of Anchialous, decisive Bulgarian victory over Byzantium, leading to notable expansion of the Bulgarian domain.
8th c. [Political/Economy]: Byzantium forced to pay tribute to Bulgaria.
8th c. [Economy]: Bulgarian merchants were granted official access to the markets of Constantinople, while all non-official merchants were subjected to having their goods questioned or confiscated.
9th c. [Political]: Kan Krum, the first laws of Bulgaria were established. Though, this is debated, as it is believed that the laws were inherited from Old Great Bulgaria. Never the less, this is a period of notable territorial expansion and improvements on the code of law. Bulgaria expanded its authority across the Carpathians, throughout the lands that were to become Transylvania all the way to Eastern Pannonia (modern day Hungary).
9th c. [Military]: Kan Krum dethroned (directly and indirectly) three Byzantine Emperors during his reign. He made a drinking cup lined with silver out of the first emperor's skull (ie. Nikephorus), which was befitting considering the poor conduct of the Byzantine armies while in Bulgaria.
9th c. [Political]: Kan Krum lays the foundations of centralizing the First Bulgarian Empire.
9th c. [Political]: Kan Krum resettles some 50,000 Byzantine captives in the Bulgarian lands North of the Danube.
9th c. [Political/Architectural]: Under Kan Omurtag the First Bulgarian Empire underwent significant architectural developments, authority was centralized, the armies were fully centralized.
9th c. [Political/Military/Cultural/Economy]: Tsar Boris I expands the domain of the First Bulgarian Empire. At this point there are notable cultural leaps within Bulgaria that have influenced many of Bulgaria's neighbors.
9th c. [Cultural]: Tsar Boris establishes the first literary school in the Bulgarian Empire; ie. The Preslav Literary School.
9th c. [Cultural]: The Ohrid Literary School is established, and along with the Literary School of Preslav it becomes one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centers.
9th c. [Cultural]: The Cyrillic alphabet; devised by four Bulgarian students (most notably St. Clement of Ohrid) of St. St. Cyril and Methodius on the order of Tsar Boris I at the Literary School of Preslav. The oldest inscriptions in Cyrillic have been found in Preslav, which at that time was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire.
9th c. [Cultural/Spiritual]: The Bible is translated into Old Bulgarian (ie. Old Church Slavonic). Old Bulgarian (ie. Old Church Slavonic) becomes an official language of Christian liturgy. This is of monumental significance as prior to this; Hebrew, Latin, and Greek were the only accepted official languages of Christian scripture.
10th c. [Political/Military/Cultural/Spiritual/Economy]: Under Tsar Simeon I, the First Bulgarian Empire reaches its apogee. At this point it was considered an equal rival to the East Roman Empire. The subjects of Tsar Simeon were estimated to have numbered around 4,000,000.
10th c. [Political/Economy]: Byzantium forced to pay tribute to Bulgaria
10th c. [Cultural/Spiritual]: Under Tsar Simeon I, Bulgaria becomes the literary and spiritual center for Slavic Europe.
10th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: Patriarch Nicholas officially recognizes Tsar Simeon as 'Emperor of the Bulgarians'.
10th c. [Military]: The Battle of Anchialos, one of the largest in medieval history, the Bulgarians completely routed the Byzantines and killed many of their commanders. Decades later, Leo the Deacon would write that "piles of bones can still be seen today at the river Anchialos, where the fleeing army of the Byzantines was then infamously slain".
10th c. [Military]: Bulgaria increases pressure on Byzantium, campaigning in the west through Thessaly reaching the Isthmus of Corinth and in the east in Thrace, reaching and crossing the Dardanelles to lay siege on the town of Lampsacus.
10th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: Pope John X's recognizes Tsar Simeon's title of 'Emperor of the Romans', making him an equal to the Byzantine Emperor; thus solidifying Bulgaria as an equal rival to the East Roman Empire.
10th c. [Cultural]: Simeon continued his father's policy of establishing and spreading Slavic culture, attracting noted scholars and writers within Bulgaria's borders.
10th c. [Cultural]: The late 9th and early 10th century constitute the most productive period of medieval Bulgarian literature.
10th c. [Cultural]: Tsar Simeon introduced Byzantine culture to the Bulgarian court, but eliminated its assimilative effect by means of military power and religious autonomy.
10th c. [Cultural] The disciples of St. St. Cyril and Methodius, particularly St. Clement of Ohrid, Naum, and Constantine of Preslav, continued their educational work in Bulgaria, actively translating Christian texts, such as the Bible and the works of John Chrysostom, Basil of Caesarea, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, Athanasius of Alexandria, as well as historic chronicles of John Malalas and George Hamartolus to Bulgarian.
10th c. [Cultural]: The reign of Simeon also witnessed the production of a number of original theological and secular works, such as John Exarch's Six Days (Shestodnev), Constantine of Preslav's Alphabetical Prayer and Proclamation of the Holy Gospels, and Chernorizec Hrabar's An Account of Letters. Tsar Simeon's own contribution to this literary blossoming was praised by his contemporaries.
References to Tsar Simeon:
For who could have anticipated that Simeon, who for his great wisdom, for the favour shown him by heaven, has led the Bulgarian nation to a height of glory, who more than any man detests knavery, who honours justice, who abominates injustice, who is above all sensual pleasures…
—from Nicholas Mystikos' letters to Simeon
Simeon was the Bulgarian Charlemagne, but he was better educated than our Charles the Great and much greater than him, for he laid down the foundations of literature that belonged to the people.[59]
—Alfred Nicolas Rambaud, French historian
10th c. [Cultural]: Tsar Simeon turned the Bulgarian capital Preslav into a magnificent religious and cultural centre, intended more as a display of his realm's heyday and as a royal residence than as a military fortress.
10th c. [Cultural/Architectural]: Preslav had more than 20 cross-domed churches and numerous monasteries, its impressive royal palace and the Golden Church made Preslav a true imperial capital. The development of Bulgarian art in the period is demonstrated by a ceramic icon of Theodore of Amasea and the Preslav-style illustrated ceramics.
12th c. [Political]: Second Bulgarian Empire (1185); successor of the First Bulgarian Empire
12th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: Tsar Kaloyan entered a union with the Papacy, thereby securing the recognition of his title 'Rex'. Kaloyan, however, wanted recognition for the title of 'Tsar' or 'Emperor' as it had been granted to the rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire.
13th c. [Military]: Tsar Kaloyan crushes the Fourth Crusade.
13th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: In an attempt to foster an alliance with the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos recognizes Tsar Kaloyan's imperial title and promises him patriarchal recognition.
13th c. [Military]: Tsar Kaloyan decisively defeats the newly created 'Latin Empire' in the Battle of Adrianople and thus crushed its power in the very first year of its creation and prevented their influence on the larger part of the Balkans. Emperor Baldwin I was captured in battled and held captive in Veliko Turnovo.
13th c. [Military]: Tsar Kaloyan kills tens of thousands of Byzantines who betrayed the initial alliance with Bulgaria by aligning with the Crusaders. In 1201 he ordered the whole Byzantine population of Varna to be buried alive. He wanted revenge for Tsar Samuil's 14,000 blinded soldiers and was styled with the title 'Romanoktonos' (Roman-slayer) as Basil II was styled as 'Bulgaroktonos' (Bulgar-slayer).
13th c. [Political/Military]: Tsar Kaloyan concludes an anti-Latin alliance with Theodore I Laskaris of the Empire of Nicea. In the same year (1207), Kaloyan's troops kill Boniface of Montferrat; the Latin ruler of the Kingdom of Thessalonica.
13th c. [Political/Military]: Bulgaria becomes a notable regional power with considerable military and economic strength.
13th c. [Military]: Bulgaria establishes organized navy.
7th c. [Political]: Old Great Bulgaria (630/632AD)
7th c. [Political]: First Bulgarian Empire (680/681AD); successor of Old Great Bulgaria
7th c. [Military/Political]: Kan Asparuh decisively defeats Byzantium. For the first and only time in history the East Roman Empire officially recognizes its own land over to a foreign power; legitimizing Asparuh's Bulgaria. On a side note, something similar happened with the Roman Empire when it officially gave Pannonia to the Huns whose main striking forces were Bulgar tribes.
7th c. [Political/Economy]: Byzantium forced to pay tribute to Bulgaria.
8th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: The Byzantine Emperor Justinian II gives Kan Tervel the title of 'Caeser'. For the first time in history a foreign ruler receives this title.
8th c. [Military/Political]: Kan Tervel helps Byzantium against the Arab invaders. Tervel's armies are recorded to have killed 22,000 Arabs in the first attack, other sources state that the number was 30,000. Later Arab chroniclers describe that one Bulgarian soldier was the equivalent of 10 to 15 Arab soldiers.
8th c. [Glory]: Kan Tervel's monumental success against the Arab invaders earned him the unofficial title 'Savior of Europe'.
8th c. [Military]: Battle of Anchialous, decisive Bulgarian victory over Byzantium, leading to notable expansion of the Bulgarian domain.
8th c. [Political/Economy]: Byzantium forced to pay tribute to Bulgaria.
8th c. [Economy]: Bulgarian merchants were granted official access to the markets of Constantinople, while all non-official merchants were subjected to having their goods questioned or confiscated.
9th c. [Political]: Kan Krum, the first laws of Bulgaria were established. Though, this is debated, as it is believed that the laws were inherited from Old Great Bulgaria. Never the less, this is a period of notable territorial expansion and improvements on the code of law. Bulgaria expanded its authority across the Carpathians, throughout the lands that were to become Transylvania all the way to Eastern Pannonia (modern day Hungary).
9th c. [Military]: Kan Krum dethroned (directly and indirectly) three Byzantine Emperors during his reign. He made a drinking cup lined with silver out of the first emperor's skull (ie. Nikephorus), which was befitting considering the poor conduct of the Byzantine armies while in Bulgaria.
9th c. [Political]: Kan Krum lays the foundations of centralizing the First Bulgarian Empire.
9th c. [Political]: Kan Krum resettles some 50,000 Byzantine captives in the Bulgarian lands North of the Danube.
9th c. [Political/Architectural]: Under Kan Omurtag the First Bulgarian Empire underwent significant architectural developments, authority was centralized, the armies were fully centralized.
9th c. [Political/Military/Cultural/Economy]: Tsar Boris I expands the domain of the First Bulgarian Empire. At this point there are notable cultural leaps within Bulgaria that have influenced many of Bulgaria's neighbors.
9th c. [Cultural]: Tsar Boris establishes the first literary school in the Bulgarian Empire; ie. The Preslav Literary School.
9th c. [Cultural]: The Ohrid Literary School is established, and along with the Literary School of Preslav it becomes one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centers.
9th c. [Cultural]: The Cyrillic alphabet; devised by four Bulgarian students (most notably St. Clement of Ohrid) of St. St. Cyril and Methodius on the order of Tsar Boris I at the Literary School of Preslav. The oldest inscriptions in Cyrillic have been found in Preslav, which at that time was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire.
9th c. [Cultural/Spiritual]: The Bible is translated into Old Bulgarian (ie. Old Church Slavonic). Old Bulgarian (ie. Old Church Slavonic) becomes an official language of Christian liturgy. This is of monumental significance as prior to this; Hebrew, Latin, and Greek were the only accepted official languages of Christian scripture.
10th c. [Political/Military/Cultural/Spiritual/Economy]: Under Tsar Simeon I, the First Bulgarian Empire reaches its apogee. At this point it was considered an equal rival to the East Roman Empire. The subjects of Tsar Simeon were estimated to have numbered around 4,000,000.
10th c. [Political/Economy]: Byzantium forced to pay tribute to Bulgaria
10th c. [Cultural/Spiritual]: Under Tsar Simeon I, Bulgaria becomes the literary and spiritual center for Slavic Europe.
10th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: Patriarch Nicholas officially recognizes Tsar Simeon as 'Emperor of the Bulgarians'.
10th c. [Military]: The Battle of Anchialos, one of the largest in medieval history, the Bulgarians completely routed the Byzantines and killed many of their commanders. Decades later, Leo the Deacon would write that "piles of bones can still be seen today at the river Anchialos, where the fleeing army of the Byzantines was then infamously slain".
10th c. [Military]: Bulgaria increases pressure on Byzantium, campaigning in the west through Thessaly reaching the Isthmus of Corinth and in the east in Thrace, reaching and crossing the Dardanelles to lay siege on the town of Lampsacus.
10th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: Pope John X's recognizes Tsar Simeon's title of 'Emperor of the Romans', making him an equal to the Byzantine Emperor; thus solidifying Bulgaria as an equal rival to the East Roman Empire.
10th c. [Cultural]: Simeon continued his father's policy of establishing and spreading Slavic culture, attracting noted scholars and writers within Bulgaria's borders.
10th c. [Cultural]: The late 9th and early 10th century constitute the most productive period of medieval Bulgarian literature.
10th c. [Cultural]: Tsar Simeon introduced Byzantine culture to the Bulgarian court, but eliminated its assimilative effect by means of military power and religious autonomy.
10th c. [Cultural] The disciples of St. St. Cyril and Methodius, particularly St. Clement of Ohrid, Naum, and Constantine of Preslav, continued their educational work in Bulgaria, actively translating Christian texts, such as the Bible and the works of John Chrysostom, Basil of Caesarea, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, Athanasius of Alexandria, as well as historic chronicles of John Malalas and George Hamartolus to Bulgarian.
10th c. [Cultural]: The reign of Simeon also witnessed the production of a number of original theological and secular works, such as John Exarch's Six Days (Shestodnev), Constantine of Preslav's Alphabetical Prayer and Proclamation of the Holy Gospels, and Chernorizec Hrabar's An Account of Letters. Tsar Simeon's own contribution to this literary blossoming was praised by his contemporaries.
References to Tsar Simeon:
For who could have anticipated that Simeon, who for his great wisdom, for the favour shown him by heaven, has led the Bulgarian nation to a height of glory, who more than any man detests knavery, who honours justice, who abominates injustice, who is above all sensual pleasures…
—from Nicholas Mystikos' letters to Simeon
Simeon was the Bulgarian Charlemagne, but he was better educated than our Charles the Great and much greater than him, for he laid down the foundations of literature that belonged to the people.[59]
—Alfred Nicolas Rambaud, French historian
10th c. [Cultural]: Tsar Simeon turned the Bulgarian capital Preslav into a magnificent religious and cultural centre, intended more as a display of his realm's heyday and as a royal residence than as a military fortress.
10th c. [Cultural/Architectural]: Preslav had more than 20 cross-domed churches and numerous monasteries, its impressive royal palace and the Golden Church made Preslav a true imperial capital. The development of Bulgarian art in the period is demonstrated by a ceramic icon of Theodore of Amasea and the Preslav-style illustrated ceramics.
12th c. [Political]: Second Bulgarian Empire (1185); successor of the First Bulgarian Empire
12th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: Tsar Kaloyan entered a union with the Papacy, thereby securing the recognition of his title 'Rex'. Kaloyan, however, wanted recognition for the title of 'Tsar' or 'Emperor' as it had been granted to the rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire.
13th c. [Military]: Tsar Kaloyan crushes the Fourth Crusade.
13th c. [Political/Diplomacy]: In an attempt to foster an alliance with the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos recognizes Tsar Kaloyan's imperial title and promises him patriarchal recognition.
13th c. [Military]: Tsar Kaloyan decisively defeats the newly created 'Latin Empire' in the Battle of Adrianople and thus crushed its power in the very first year of its creation and prevented their influence on the larger part of the Balkans. Emperor Baldwin I was captured in battled and held captive in Veliko Turnovo.
13th c. [Military]: Tsar Kaloyan kills tens of thousands of Byzantines who betrayed the initial alliance with Bulgaria by aligning with the Crusaders. In 1201 he ordered the whole Byzantine population of Varna to be buried alive. He wanted revenge for Tsar Samuil's 14,000 blinded soldiers and was styled with the title 'Romanoktonos' (Roman-slayer) as Basil II was styled as 'Bulgaroktonos' (Bulgar-slayer).
13th c. [Political/Military]: Tsar Kaloyan concludes an anti-Latin alliance with Theodore I Laskaris of the Empire of Nicea. In the same year (1207), Kaloyan's troops kill Boniface of Montferrat; the Latin ruler of the Kingdom of Thessalonica.
13th c. [Political/Military]: Bulgaria becomes a notable regional power with considerable military and economic strength.
13th c. [Military]: Bulgaria establishes organized navy.